


Rumors

by specialisthalstead



Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [5]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Dates, Light Angst, SWAT!Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24338785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specialisthalstead/pseuds/specialisthalstead
Summary: He scratches the back of his head and chuckles nervously. "So this definitely isn't how I imagined our first date."
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743577
Kudos: 64





	Rumors

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on [tumblr](https://bleedinghearthalstead.tumblr.com/post/619122334523179009/).

Jay Halstead is at a total loss. And with all his usual bravado, this is a bit of a foreign concept to him, so he's mildly freaking out. He really doesn't know where it all went wrong – they're at a fancy restaurant, he's wearing a nice suit and Hailey's in a gorgeous dress, the food is really good and it seemed like Hailey was having a good time. Or so he thought.

After their first meeting at that bank robbery turned hostage situation where they were (not so covertly and quite inappropriately) flirting with each other, they exchanged phone numbers and have been texting for a couple of weeks now. It has only taken them so long to go on a date because their schedules kept conflicting, what with Hailey being a new detective at robbery-homicide and Jay being a full-time member of SWAT. They agreed to wait until Jay was on his two-week training cycle, as it was basically impossible to predict when he might have to gear up when he was on duty. Will recommended the restaurant to him, the swanky bastard, and Hailey seemed really excited about it when he told her he booked a table for them.

Arriving at the restaurant, they were both clearly nervous about their date, giggling like two teenagers, but Jay thought they got over the initial jitters after their first round of drinks. Past the small talk, they were reminiscing about their experiences on the beat and comparing funniest arrest stories. Jay even noticed the couple at the table next to theirs giving them funny looks, when they were loudly laughing as Hailey relegated the story about her training officer thinking that he was stepping into a puddle, but actually dropped down an open and flooded manhole.

But since Jay came back from the restroom after they finished their main courses, Hailey has been giving him what he can only describe as some pretty scathing stink-eye. Thinking he is only imagining it, he goes back to their earlier conversation, but Hailey is reduced to one-word answers and is basically giving him the cold shoulder. Momentarily confused, he tries to lighten the mood with what he thinks is the hilarious story of someone (who had obviously failed) at stalk training in sniper school when they let out a high-pitched shriek in the middle of the exercise because a mouse had crawled up their pant leg. Hailey doesn't laugh.

Jay frowns. "Everything alright?"

Hailey sighs in barely hidden disdain. "I'm good." She pulls out her phone, pretending like she received an urgent message. "I need to go. Should we get the bill?"

Jay's frown deepens, easily detecting her lie. Although it's not like she was trying very hard to make it sound believable. "Sure," he says, although he isn't sure at all. He clears his throat. "Listen, I thought tonight was going pretty well, but if there's anything I said or did…"

His date lets out a humorless laugh. "Oh I'm sure you've done plenty of things. Or should I say plenty of people?"

"Wait, what?"

At his dumbfounded expression, Hailey explodes. "Apparently, I'm the only woman in the whole goddamn Chicago Police that didn't know what kind of a manwhore you are!"

Jay can't believe what he just heard and therefore can't help the loud laugh that bursts out of him. "Excuse me!?"

"There's at least three women at my district alone that you've slept with," Hailey continues. "And apparently there's a lot more!"

"That's fucking ridiculous," Jay growls. He's never been this infuriated by a woman in his life. "Who the fuck told you that?"

"You want me to tell you a name?" Hailey asks incredulously. "So, what, you can slutshame her?"

"Well, you're doing it to me right here and now!"

In the silence that follows, Jay notices that all other sounds in the restaurant have ceased, the other patrons staring at him and Hailey with wide eyes. Hailey takes the break in their screaming match as a chance to stand up from her seat and leave.

"Wait-" Jay jumps up as well, not willing to let her go yet. He vehemently wants to prove to Hailey that that's not who he is. And he wouldn't be Jay Halstead if he didn't make a complete ass out of himself when it came to a beautiful woman. In that moment, a waiter with a full tray of drinks happens to pass by him and in his haste to get up Jay knocks his elbow into the waiter, who in turn spills the whole load of (probably really expensive) wine down Hailey's front. Whoever's attention they didn't have before, they definitely have it now. Hailey is gaping at Jay with a shocked expression, then lets out a frustrated scream – that even Jay flinches at – before she turns on her heel and stomps out of the restaurant.

He's just as shocked as she was, but Jay only hesitates for a second, then quickly pulls out his wallet and drops a hundred dollar bill on the table and rushes out of the restaurant, throwing an embarrassed "sorry" over his shoulder. Looking around on the street, he sees Hailey rounding the corner at the end of the block and sprints after her.

"Hailey, wait!" She does a great job of ignoring him, speed walking to get away from him, but he catches up to her way too soon. Jay is thisclose to grasping her arm to stop her, but wisely decides against it. "Please, just wait for a sec."

She huffs and stops, but keeps her distance. "What do you want."

He scratches the back of his head and chuckles nervously. "So this definitely isn't how I imagined our first date."

Hailey just glares. "What, you thought I'd be an easy lay?"

"What? No!" He deflates. Jay looks… hurt? "I thought we had a real connection."

And now Hailey feels extremely conflicted. Because she thought she had felt that connection too, thought they were incredibly well-matched. Jay is obviously attractive. He is intelligent and funny and he has that razor sharp wit, walking a fine line between genius and sociopath. But he's also compassionate and kind. And then there's also that underlying sense of pain and misery that he can hide very well. But so can Hailey. That part deep, deep inside of her that knows that darkness, that she's been carrying with her since she was a young girl… that part tells her to give him a chance. So despite her urge to run for the hills, the urge to hear him out is bigger.

She sighs and puts her hands on her hips. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Jay looks slightly relieved, then says, "So I'm pretty sure you got a message from Becca, right? She's at the 11th district with you, isn't she?" Hailey only raises an eyebrow at him, although somewhat surprised that he figured it out so quickly. "Anyways, last year, two of my team guys were hitting on these three girls and Becca was kinda fifth-wheeling them. And they needed a third guy so she wouldn't feel left out, so they roped me into it. It was all good and fun, but then Kenny and Sam left with the other two girls and I ended up alone with Becca and she wanted to continue… somewhere more private. But I was having kind of a bad day, I just wanted to get blackout drunk…" He mumbles, "It was the anniversary of something that I don't want to get into right now…" Jay averts his eyes, then clears his throat. "I totally blew her off and got wasted and she's been pretty pissed at me since. Everyone just assumed that we had sex and I guess none of us ever denied it."

Hailey doesn't really know what to say, still feeling conflicted between wanting to believe the other woman or the guy she is feeling a strong connection to, although she doesn't really know him yet.

When he doesn't get a reaction from Hailey, who is still silently staring at him, he sighs. "I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone now." He turns away from her and walks away, rubbing his hands over his face. He can't believe he blew it before it even had the chance to really begin.

"Wanna buy me a beer?" She calls after him.

Jay stops in his tracks and slowly turns back to Hailey. "You sure?"

"Not really." She tilts her head at him and gives him a shy smile. "But you can try to convince me."

He smiles back at her. Even in the dim light, Jay can see that Hailey is shivering. He rolls his eyes at himself, she is basically drenched from head to toe because he's an idiot. "You parked around here? Do you have a change of clothes?" He gestures at her ruined light blue dress that is now more massive red wine stain than dress.

To think that she almost forgot about it, as angry as she just was a minute ago, Hailey looks down at herself and sighs sadly. She really liked that dress too. And now it's disgustingly sticky, clinging to her skin. She shakes her head no. "No, I took an Uber to get here."

"Come on." Jay motions at her to follow him. "My car's parked a block over. I've got some wet wipes and I can give you something to change into." Hailey thinks that she wouldn't normally follow a guy, who is still kind of a stranger to her, back to his car in the dark, but her gut tells her that she can trust him. That she'd follow him anywhere.

Jay leads Hailey to his black jeep, rummaging around in his gym bag and handing her some garments with an apologetic shrug, claiming that those are the only clean things that he has. He lets her change in the backseat of his car, standing watch next to the vehicle. When she emerges, he tries to hide his laugh, but also can't help but think that she looks great in his clothes. Don't get him wrong, she looked absolutely stunning in her blue dress, the color bringing out her eyes beautifully, but this new look is one for the ages. Well, he thinks, she'd look beautiful in anything.

And this is how they end up in a random bar. Jay comes back to their table with a couple of beers and sets one of them down in front of Hailey. He hadn't asked her what she wanted, so good guess on his part. She picks it up and they clink their bottles together. "Cheers."

Hailey is wearing a worn but soft flannel that is a couple of sizes too big on her, paired with some basketball shorts that are dangerously close to sliding off her hips when she moves around too much. She knows she must look ridiculous, but the way Jay is looking at her… and she can't help but feel safe being engulfed in his smell that is so distinctively him, clean soap, peppermint and a hint of gun oil, which she shouldn't know, but already feels so familiar with. Her date has also ditched his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his dark button-down shirt, the two top buttons undone. More dressed down and in a less formal setting, they are more relaxed, but there is still an air of nervousness around them. They're quietly drinking their beers, before they start at the same time.

"Listen…"

"Sooo…"

They both laugh at their own awkwardness, then Hailey motions at him to continue, feeling like he has something he needs to get off his chest.

Jay carefully selects his words, trying to gauge her reaction. "I guess you still don't know what or whom to believe – it is her word against mine. And I know it's my own fault that those rumors are floating around… but it gave me a bit of a reputation and I kinda liked that. It kept things fun and non-committal because nobody expected anything more from me. I just thought it'd blow over eventually, but apparently my behavior hurt her more than I thought, if she went out of her way to warn you about me. But if you'll let me, I'd like to show you the real me." He grimaces at his own clichéd wording, then quickly adds with a hopeful smile, "If you're still interested, that is."

Hailey tries to detect any tells that he might be lying, but comes up empty-handed. Either he's a really good liar or he's being sincere. And he's right, it is his word against Becca's. She was surprised when she got the message earlier because even though she knew Becca from the district, they were nowhere near what you'd call friends or even friendly acquaintances. So when she received a text from the other woman telling her that her date was known for womanizing his way through the CPD, she felt betrayed. Betrayed by a man she thought from their personal interactions and text conversations was a really nice and honest guy. Back at the restaurant, she couldn't help but not believe another word coming out of his mouth. But thinking about it now, Hailey realizes that she automatically assumed that the rumors about him were true, even though she herself had been in a similar situation before.

"I dated a cop in my unit before, he was a sergeant. I was meritoriously promoted for a UC case while we were together, but people think that I slept my way to my detective star," she quietly says. She's decidedly not looking at Jay and plays with the label on her beer bottle. "So when I meet guys who are also cops, they either believe that I'm a total skank and will sleep with them at the snap of their fingers or they believe that I'm a real hardass bitch and they feel intimidated."

Jay scoffs. At his reaction, Hailey glances up at him, although her head is still down. "That's not fucking true." Jay puts a hand on her knee and waits for her to fully look him in the eye. "I've seen the way you work. In the debrief at the bank robbery, you were insightful and competent at building a breaching strategy and everyone thought that your plan was best. Like even Trey, and he usually gets a kick out of poking holes in every goddamn plan. And then that disarm you made at the bank…" He whistles lowly and smirks at her. "You're a total badass. You earned that promotion."

Hailey can't help the slight blush creeping up her face. That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about her work. She tries to tone down the massive grin that is forming on her face. "Thanks." She then puts her hand on top of his. "Also, I'm still interested."

Jay smiles and squeezes her knee. "Another round, then?" He gets up and goes to the bar to order them drinks. As Hailey watches him, there's this warm and fuzzy feeling deep inside of her and she's pretty sure that that's not from the alcohol she's been drinking.


End file.
